Anticreeper for railway rails



June 24,1930. w. s. WESTON ANTICREEPER FOR RAILWAY RAILS Filed Jan. 12. 1929 [NVEI/TOR:

WWW M Bjy 6 511), M I Xmgvfiq Patented June 24, 1930 i UNITED STATES Arturerries WILLIAM swnsroiv', or :oAnLAs, TEXAS ANTICREEIPER ronnAILwAY RAILS Application filed January 12, 1929. Serial Nd. 332,176.

3 The present invention relates to i-mprovethemanufactured and installed shape of the ments in spring clamp rail anchors or antianchor, and the description of its installacreepers, and more particularly to rail antion, Fig. 5 is placed in front of the openchors such as set forth in prior Letters Pating in the-plate in Fig 3. r

5 ent ofthe United States issued to me No. Fig. 6 llustrates a blank for the anchor,

1,572,455, dated February 9, 1926,, and No. before it is pressed and bent into shape, 1,62%,512, dated October 25,- 1927, and in which may be punched from a stock bar of which jaws are provided which are adapted, spring steel. g l on installation, to establish a lever-grip on Fig. 7 is-a cross section of the blank on 10 the rail base flange. the line 7-7 of Fig. 6, showing the jaw 9 The present invention seeks to provide aspace punched at anangle inclined to the spring clam-p rail anchor having at least two blank. flange-embracing jaws which are so con- 'Referring to the drawings, the anchor is structed as to give a greater rangeof admade with two flange-embracingjaws A 115 justment to; rail base flanges of different and B that are integrally connected together thickness. A further object of the invention at theinner ends of their top members by is to provide improved means in a spring the loop 'L. The jaws are held'in spaced clamp railanchor more particularly adapted relation to each other by this loop and by to cooperate with a rail-seating tie-plate or shoulders or and 7) formed on the top memthe like, and in which improvedmeansare hers at their outer ends. ,In the manufac- I 7 provided for securing the anchor in position tured'shape, as shown in Fig. 4, the jaws on the rail base. l with the shoulders'in contact are'inclined With these and other objects inview, the toward each-other ina downward direction. invention' consists in the features of im- In this shape the flange embracing spaces provemen-t hereinafter set forth, illustrated of the two jaws are oppositely,inclined-and 75 in the preferred form in the accompanying so related that the, clear space through v drawings andmoreparticularlypointed out both jaws is less thanrequired for the rail in the appended claims. j base flange on which they are to be used.

In the drawings which illustrate the pre- To illustrate this fact, theedge ofthe rail .30 ferred'form of the present invention that is base,and.the outline of the jaw spaces ad- 7 adapted to cooperate with a rail-seating tiejacent the edge are indicatedvby dotted linesplate: V j j At installation when the anchor is driven Fig. l is a-viewin elevation of the anchor onto the'rail flange, causing the j aw spaces as seen in-a crosssection through-the rail to adjust. themselvesto the-base flange, as

base and plate, taken on the line 1-l of indicated inFig 2, the bottoms of'the jaws Fi 3 j 1 p j are rotated away from eachlother. In this Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the rail base operation; therefis developed a torsional and anchor, as seen from the right of Fig. strain in the upper members of the. jaws 1, the plate being omitted. and a bending-strain in the loop L. These I 40 .Fig. 3 is a plan view of the plate showstrains, in their reaction, tend torotate the-9'0 ing the anchor in its insta lled sha e and jaws bac'k to their manufactured relation position, the rail base being shown in dot- 'andtherebyestablish and maintain the lever sted outline. j I grip of the jaws onthe, base flange, a .con-

. :Figd is an elevationofthe anchor only, dition essential to the functional operation taken from the same point of viewas Fig. 2, ofthe device. It is to be noted here that 95 showing its manufactured shape before it with the spring relation ofthe, two jaws is sprung onto the rail base. g l distributed{through a torsional strain the Fig. 5 is a plan view of the anchor inits top members fas well asjawbending strain'in manufactured shape. It may be notedhere theintegral connection at loop L, the anchor that to facilitate the comparison between is adaptable for application to rail bases of 1-00 varying thickness and for subsequent removal without a material distortion from its manufactured shape.

Referring to Fig. 2, the jaw spaces, as indicated by the dotted outline of these spaces adjacent the edge'of the rail base, are larger than the thickness of the base. The effective grip in functional operation is therefore a lever grip with the bearing edges a and a paired in jaw A and bearing edges 71 and Z2 paired in jaw B. j

Because the jaw spaces are larger than the base flange, the same anchor is self adjusted to the slight variations of base thickness in rails of any standard section. In designing the anchor the spaces are preferably so proportioned that when mounted on the thinnest base it is to be used on the aws will be rotated away from each other until substantially parallel, as shown in Fig. 2. This will give a substantially vertical plane contact between the bottom member of the jaw and the part of the substructure against which it bears when the rail begins to creep.

The anchor is adapted to be seated in a recess in a tie-plate or in the rail bearing plate of a metal tie. An important detail of my present improvement is means for the application and subsequent retention of the anchor on the rail after the rail with tie-plate have been installed. In Fig. 3 is illustrated a standard tie-plate T with the usual spike holes and with a shoulder 25 on one side for one edge of the rail base. The opposite side of the plate is provided with a slot 25 that extends part way under the rail base and receives the bottom portion of the anchor as the latter is driven upon the rail base at installation. To illustrate this process, Fig. 5 showing the manufactured shape of theanchor is placed in line with the slot.

The free ends of the bottom members of the jaws are provided with flares or hooks a and b and these hooks are adapted to spring into side recesses t at the inner end of the slot t when the jaws are rotated away from each other in theprocess of driving the anchor onto the rail to the position shown in Fig. 3. These hooks prevent the anchor from working off the rail in functional operation. To facilitate the installation, the outer end of the slot t may be flared, as indicated, to readily receive the hooks a and b when placedin contact by hand. The anchor is then driven by a hammer or spike maul in the direction indicated by arrow 2 in Fig. 5 to the final position of Fig. 3.

In the process of installation just described, during which, momentarily, the free ends of the bottom members are held at substantially their manufactured distance from each other by the sides of the slot 25, a bending strain is developed in the lower important.

creep the bottom member of one of the jaws is brought to a bearing against the edge of the slot t and the reaction of the substructure through this hearing utilizes the lever grip of the jaws to prevent further creeping. A reliable bearing between the anchor and the edge of the slot in the plate is therefore To insure the maintenance of this hearing during the slight vertical movement of the rail relative to the plate, caused by the wave movement of the rail under passing loads, I extend a portion of the bottom member of each jaw below the bottom of the plate T in which the slot 25 is made. These extensions a and Z) are preferably made below that portion of the anchor connecting the top and bottom members of the jaws. These extensions facilitate making the connections between the upper and lower jaw members that extend around the edge of the rail base, wider and more unyielding, so that the angle between the upper and lower jaw members adjacent their connection around the edge of the rail base is not materially affected by the distortrons of installation or in functional operation. The extensions will also necessarily cut into the wooden tie to which the tie plate is spiked, but this will not affect the grip of the anchor on the rail or its operaion.

The improved anchor can be economically manufactured from relatively thin, flat bars of spring steel, sections of which can be cut off and punched into the forms shown in Figs. 6 and 7. This blank which is of substantially uniform thickness is bent about ts central transverse portion to bring the aws A and B side by side and form the intermediate U-shaped portion or 100 Ii. Shoulders a and b at the outer ends of the upper aw members and the hooksa and b at the inner ends of the lower jaw members are readily formed by offsetting and shaping these parts. It is noted that the opening in the blank shown in Figs. 6 and 7, which forms the spaces between the upper and lower aw members, is punched at a slight ncline or angle, so that the edges of the aw openings are oppositely inclined to the side faces thereof as described and as shown 1n F gs. 2 and 4. In operative position, the relatively thin, flat jaws are disposed on edge upon the rail base flange and the metal s so disposed that it is well adapted to withstand the strains brought upon the anchor at lnstallation and in operation.

' is sprung on installation to receiving the lower jawmembersiand form-' Throughout the specification and claims, the term jaw has been used to designate an element having integrally connected members adapted to embrace one of the rail base flanges. I

Obviously, changes may be made in the details of construction without changing the novel features of improvement, asset forth in the appended claims.

I claim as my invention:

1. A spring clamp rail anchor adapted to be strained on installation and having a part arranged to snap into engagement with a part of the substructure to retain the anchor V in position on the rail base.

2. A spring clamp rail anchor comprising a flange-embracing jaw, the lower jaw member having a hook, and a rail seating part having a recess for receiving the lower jaw member and a notch into which said. hook hold the anchor in position on the rail. r

3. A spring clamp rail anchor comprising connected flange-embracing jaws adapted on' installation to establish and maintain'lever grips on one of the rail base flanges, the lower jaw members having hooks, and a rail seating part or plate having a recess for ing abutments therefor to resist creeping of the rail and also having notches into which said hooks are sprung to retain the anchor against displacement.

4. A spring clamp rail anchor comprising two flange-embracing jaws adaptedvon installation to establish lever grips on one of the rail base flanges, and a rail seatingpart or plate having a recess for receivin the lower aw members and cooperating therewith to resist creeping of the rail in either direction, the upper jaw members being spaced apart throughout the greater portion of their length and having a connection at their inner ends arranged to develop a tor- "engagement with the shoulder of the railseating part to hold the jaw memberin po sition on therail; i

9. A spring-clamp rail anchor comprising two flange-embracing jaws adapted on installation to establish lever grips on one of the rail base flanges, and a rail-seating part or plate having a recess for receiving the lowerjaw members and cooperating therewith to resist creeping of the rail ineither direction, the upper jaw members having a connection at their inner ends arranged to develop torsional strain in the upper jaw members to aid in maintaining the lever grips of the jaws.

10. A spring-clamp rail anchor comprising two flange-embracing jaws having an integral connecting'loop between the inner ends of the upper jaw membersand a substantially rigid connection between the up-' per and lower members of each jaw, said jaws and loop being formed of a relatively thin, flat metal blank adapted to bedisposed on edge and strained on installation to establish lever grips of the jaws on'one of the rail base flanges, and at leastone of the a lower jaw members having means for holding the anchor in position on the rail."

WILLIAM s. WESTON.

sional strain at installation in the upper jaw members to aid in maintaining the lever grips of the jaws 5. A spring clamp rail anchor comprising a flange-embracing jaw, and a rail seating plate having a recess for receiving the lower jaw member and formingan abutment therefor, said lower jaw member being arranged to extend below the plate to maintain engagement therewith during relative vertical movement of the rail.

6. A spring clamp rail anchor comprising two flangeeembracing jaws having substantially rigid connections between their upper and lowerjaw members and an integral connecting loop between the inner ends of the upper jaw members, said jaws and loop being formed of a bent, relatively thin, flat metal blank and adapted to be disposed on edge and strained on installation to establish lever grips on one of the rail base 

